Journal of the National Cancer Institute
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J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Jun 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialRandomized trial of short- versus long-course radiotherapy for palliation of painful bone metastases.
Radiation therapy is effective in palliating pain from bone metastases. We investigated whether 8 Gy delivered in a single treatment fraction provides pain and narcotic relief that is equivalent to that of the standard treatment course of 30 Gy delivered in 10 treatment fractions over 2 weeks. ⋯ Both regimens were equivalent in terms of pain and narcotic relief at 3 months and were well tolerated with few adverse effects. The 8-Gy arm had a higher rate of re-treatment but had less acute toxicity than the 30-Gy arm.